1. Field of Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of toothbrushes and more particularly to toothbrush head configurations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, the great majority of toothbrushes have fixed bristle heads with many variations on bristle field shapes, bristle lengths, and bristle softness designed to enhance effective tooth cleaning and massaging of gingival tissue. Recently, there have been many head designs which provide some flexibility in the head to help reach more teeth and gingival surfaces. In general, existing flexible head toothbrush designs incorporate elastomer materials or segmented/notched/hinged sections or both to provide head flexibility. In all cases the heads flex as a result of bristle pressure being applied to a particular head region meaning that there is a variation of bristle pressures. For example, if there is bristle pressure applied to one end of the head, there will much less, if any, bristle pressure at the other end of the head. In addition, most existing heads are somewhat effective on anterior convex surfaces with limited effectiveness on interior concave surfaces especially the lower front interior lingual region; which requires a toothbrush that provides a convex surface that is effective when rolled away from the gingival tissue or gum line. Ironically, the lower front interior tooth region is probably the most susceptible to plaque/tartar since this region has the greatest exposure to saliva. Plaque is a sticky film formed by decaying food particles and saliva. Tartar is long-term plaque which hardens into a crusty deposit also called calculus.
It is the object of this invention to provide a pressure equalizing device in the toothbrush head, which enables bristles to conform to interior and anterior teeth surfaces by equalizing bristle pressures longitudinally; a feature not yet available in existing toothbrush art.
Other devices have been developed to overcome these and similar problems associated with . . . Typical of the art are those devices disclosed in the following U.S. Patents:
U.S. Pat. No.Inventor(s)Issue Date4,209,871Raymond ErnestJul. 1, 1980Jack Nestor5,054,154Carl ShifferOct. 8, 1991Berthold Meyer5,651,158Hans HalmJun. 29, 19975,758,383Douglas J. HohlbeinJun. 2, 19985,802,656Peter Leonard LawsonSep. 8, 1998Bert Davis HeinzelmanDonald Richard LamondJohn MoldauerSteven John Raven5,898,967Jian Zhi WuMay 4, 1999Rui Qing Lai5,946,758Douglas J. HohlbeinSep. 7, 1999Thomas Edward Mintel5,970,564George Richard InnsOct. 26, 1999Stephen John RavenDerek Guy Savill5,991,958Douglas J. HohlbeinNov. 30, 19995,991,959Stephen John RavenNov. 30, 1999Derek Guy Savill6,073,299Douglas J. HohlbeinJun. 13, 20006,088,870Douglas J. HohlbeinJul. 18, 20006,178,582Hans HalmJan. 30, 20016,185,779Hans KramerFeb. 13, 20016,219,874Maria van GelderApr. 24, 2001Kristie Jane Morgan6,314,605Sanjay Amratlal SolankiNov. 13, 2001Simon Phillip Shenton6,314,606Douglas J. HohlbeinNov. 13, 20016,408,476David Victor CannJun. 25, 20026,442,787Douglas J. HohlbeinSep. 3, 20026,675,428Hans HalmJan. 13, 20046,996,870Douglas J. HohlbeinFeb. 14, 20067,275,277Robert A. MoskovichOct. 2, 2007Michael C. Rooney
Of these patents, Ernest and Nester, in the '871 patent discloses a “Toothbrush with Improved Interproximal and Free Gingival Margin Accessibility” which has a head configuration perpendicular to the handle designed to contact gingival tissue on both the maxillary and mandibular teeth using a rotary motion. The handle and head design requires holding the toothbrush on the opposite side of the mouth cavity while cleaning the buccal surfaces; then the bristle stem must be rotated in the handle to clean the lingual surfaces. The other half of the mouth is then similarly brushed holding the handle with the opposite hand. Traditional toothbrushes with bristle fields approximately one inch long and parallel to the handle can contact multiple teeth on straight anterior surfaces. The perpendicular head limits brushing to one or two teeth but because of the narrow vertical bristle field it is more effective addressing the interior lower mouth region.
Schiffer and Meyer in the '154 patent, discloses a toothbrush with an elastic segment between the handle and head to reduce damage to gums and teeth by reducing brushing pressure.
Halm in the '158 patent discloses a toothbrush head in the form of one or more segments which are flexibly and/or resiliently linked to each other. The grooves between the linked segments are filled with an elastomeric material. The first embodiment is a head with transverse grooves and one or more longitudinal grooves; this embodiment permits a force to be applied to the distal end of the head and which deflects the head in a convex manner. The second embodiment the head is surrounded by a frame which is bridged to the tuft field at both ends of the head which takes on a concave shape when force is applied to the center of the head. The third embodiment also provides a limited concave shape using a spine network connected to the surrounding frame.
Hohlbein, in the '383 patent, discloses a “Contouring Toothbrush Head” where the head is made up of two rigid sections coupled by a flexible joint. The two sections are slightly angled to each other forming a crude concave bristle surface. The head contacts some convex surfaces and flexes to contact straight surfaces. The angled front section of the head is pointed toward the front lingual mouth region to access the lower interior teeth.
Dawson, Heinzelman, Lamond, Moldauert and Raven in the '656 patent discloses a “Toothbrush with Flexibly Mounted Bristles” designed to reduce excessive permanent bristle splaying by providing multiple configurations of perimeter or side member bristle tufts that are capable of a toggling movement.
Wu and Lai in the '967 patent discloses a “Flexible Toothbrush” incorporates a flexible leaf spring embedded into the toothbrush neck to provide flexibility while brushing and reducing the occurrence of cracked or broken handles.
Hohlbein and Mintel in the '758 patent, “Toothbrush Having Contouring Multi-Component Head with Peel Resistant Joint and Limited Flexibility”, discloses a refinement to the '383 patent where the elastomer filled grooves are not unduly subject to stress forces that will cause peeling of the elastomer.
Inns, Raven and Savill in the '564 patent discloses a toothbrush with bristles flexibly mounted in a material which is compatible with the material of the bristles and the material of the head. The patent also discloses a bristle and head configuration that can repeatable and resiliently splay in a multidirectional manner.
Hohlbein, in the '958 patent, discloses a “Contouring Toothbrush Head” where the head is made up of two rigid sections coupled by a flexible joint. The two sections are slightly angled to each other forming a rough concave bristle surface. The head contacts some convex surfaces and flexes to contact straight surfaces. The angled front section of the head is pointed toward the front lingual mouth region to access the lower interior teeth.
Raven and Savill '959 patent discloses a “Toothbrush with Flexibly Mounted Bristles” designed to reduce excessive permanent bristle splaying by providing multiple configurations of perimeter or side member bristle tufts that are capable of a toggling movement.
Hohlbein, in the '299 patent, discloses a “Contouring Toothbrush Head” where the head is made up of two rigid sections coupled by a flexible joint. The two sections are slightly angled to each other forming a rough concave bristle surface. The head contacts some convex surfaces and flexes to contact straight surfaces. The angled front section of the head is pointed toward the front lingual mouth region to access the lower interior teeth.
Hohlbein, in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,870, discloses a “Toothbrush Head With Flexibly Mounted Bristles” features a flexibly resilient lattice network where bristle tufts are mounted at the lattice nodes; the network is supported by a rigid periphery. The resultant configuration is intended to conform to various arcuate surfaces of the teeth.
Halm in the '582 patent discloses multiple embodiments of a toothbrush with flexibility at the head tip, designed to improve the ability of a toothbrush to clean surfaces of the teeth which face the back of the mouth. In a preferred embodiment of the toothbrush of this invention the bristle face of the tip region forms an angle of less than 180 degrees with the bristle face of the base region, suitably 150-170 degrees.
Kramer in the '779 patent discloses a toothbrush head in the form of one or more segments which are flexibly linked to each other. The grooves between the linked segments are filled with an elastomeric material. The general embodiment is a head with transverse grooves and one longitudinal groove.
Gelder and Morgan in the '874 patent discloses a toothbrush with transverse grooves on both sides of the head and longitudinal groves on the bristle side of the head. The bristle face is concave with no forces applied and tends to be convex with forces applied especially at the distal end of the head.
Solanki and Shenton in the 605 patent discloses a toothbrush with transverse grooves on one or both sides of the head configured in such a manner such that tuft groups or segments can operate substantially without interference from neighboring groups of tufts.
Hohlbein, in the '606 patent, discloses a “Contouring Toothbrush Head” where the head is made up of two rigid sections coupled by a flexible joint. The two sections are slightly angled to each other forming a rough concave bristle surface. The head contacts some convex surfaces and flexes to contact straight surfaces. The angled front section of the head is pointed toward the front lingual mouth region to access the lower interior teeth.
Cann in the '476 patent discloses a toothbrush comprising of a handle with one or more elastomeric regions, a head with one or more elastomeric filled transverse grooves and one or more elastomer supply channels between the handle elastomeric regions and the transverse grooves permitting elastomer filling from a single injection point.
Hohlbein, in the '787 patent, discloses a “Contouring Toothbrush Head” where the head is made up of two rigid sections coupled by a flexible joint. The two sections are slightly angled to each other forming a rough concave bristle surface. The head contacts some convex surfaces and flexes to contact straight surfaces. The angled front section of the head is pointed toward the front lingual mouth region to access the lower interior teeth.
Halm, in the '428 patent, discloses a “Toothbrush Comprising a Resilient Flex Region”. “It is the object of this invention to provide a toothbrush in which the flexibility of the head is concentrated in the tip of the head remote from the handle, so as to improve the ability of the toothbrush to clean surfaces of the teeth which face the back of the mouth”.
Hohlbein in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,996,870 discloses a “Contouring Toothbrush Head” where the head is made up of two rigid sections coupled by a flexible joint. The two sections are slightly angled to each other forming a rough concave bristle surface. The head contacts some convex surfaces and flexes to contact straight surfaces. The angled front section of the head is pointed toward the front lingual mouth region to access the lower interior teeth. In addition, at least one of the head sections includes a plurality of elastomeric fingers partially defining the side surface of that head section and partially extending from the bottom surface of that head section.
Moskovich and Rooney in the '277 patent discloses “Flexible Toothbrush Head” where the head consists of a flexible tuft field surrounded by a rigid perimeter which enables sonic welding to the toothbrush body. The tuft field flexes with bristle pressure, more easily at the center, and conforms to a convex surface to some degree.